Glory of My Own
by parazesis
Summary: AU Zelda and Link aren't your typical green clad hero and princess in need of rescuing. The forest maid Lilka and Prince Zeroun of Hyrule are the Link and Zelda of their time but no one believes they could be as a new danger arises to threaten Hyrule.


I don't own any of the Zelda games, those belong to Nintendo

My premise is the idea of Link being a girl and Zelda a prince, their roles are the same and the personality's similar, as i view them anyway so yeah... um..enjoy

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"Lilka! Get up you lazy girl." A woman shouted through the small cottage in the woods. In an upstairs room of unassuming forest cottage a young woman with long dirty blond hair roused herself from the messy straw mat that served as her bed. Groggily she glanced out the window to check the time of day and was greeted with the dusty darkness of pre-dawn.

"Great the sun's not even up yet and I'm already doing things wrong." She sat up and rubbed the remaining sleep from her weary eyes.

"I'm up Nana," She called, "although I have nothing to get up for." She continued under her breath.

"I heard that." An thickly built, older woman with a thick grey braid bustled into the small room and looked around disapprovingly. "Why are you still in bed? You should already have the fire going and the porridge started."

"I'm sorry Nana. I suppose I was just unusually tired when I went to bed last night." The girl shuffled her feet and kept her gaze lowered as she rose to dress, preparing herself for the day ahead.

"And what on this good earth were you doing to make you so tired?" Nana followed Lilka down the stairs to the ground floor, her sharp voice and steely demeanour demanding an explanation for the girl's completely unacceptable behaviour.

The blond silently bent over the hearth, stirring the coals to life with the iron poker. "Practicing with Otto." She eventually muttered at the fire.

"What did you say? I couldn't hear you."

"I said I was practising with Otto. Happy now?"

"Lilka, you know you are not supposed to be associating with those.. those.. those ruffian solders." Nana was livid with outrage and it showed all over her face, never a good sign for Lilka. "You should be here minding the house and working the garden."

"I was just learning how to shoot a bow, Nana." Lilka interjected in her own defence.

"And what use will knowing how to shoot a bow do you when you are married and have children, humm? None that's how much, none at all. It is a positively useless skill for a forest girl like you."

"But Nana..."

"No buts, you have no business learning these pointless combat skills. I completely forbid you from learning any more. Do you understand?"

"Yes Nana, I understand." Lilka glared at her feet, feeling smothered, defiant, but none the less helpless. "I'm not to continue taking fighter lessons from the soldiers or anyone else."

"Exactly now go finish your chores."

Lilka set her face and rushed out of the house before her turmoil could show. Hurriedly she finished her morning chores as ordered. However the moment she was done her feet took her away from the clearing the cottage stood in and down the path that lead towards the quiet forest village.

"Good morning Lilka." the blacksmith called to her as she entered the town market.

"Good morning Gilbert." she called back without stopping. She knew where she was going; the center of the village, the cheery traffic filled area where she and her friends liked to congregate. Where she herself could escape her mundane life for an hour or two, lost in the hustle and bustle of the small yet lively village.

"Look it's Lady Link." one boy shouted from a building's step.

"Hey Link, killed any monsters lately?" another boy called, his tone was jeering yet friendly, just another forest boy having his turn with the common joke.

"No, the forest has been quiet as of late." She had heard this taunt a million times before and never grew tired of it. She was fond of her childhood nickname and wore it with pride, despite Nana's disapproval.

Lady Link, the village children had called her that ever since she could remember. At first it had been meant as an insult, poking fun at the young girl's idol, Link, the Hero of Time, but it only gave new strength to the child' dream of becoming a hero in her own right. Lilka had never lost hold of her dream, no matter how hopeless she knew it was. The stories of Link's grand adventures had lit far too bright a fire in the young girl's soul.

Her feet continued to move her towards the center of the village. Before too long she could see a lovely little stream twisting its way through the thatched-roof buildings; by it stood two teenagers Lilka's age, a boy and a girl, who looked as if they were worried about missing something.

"Oh there she is," the girl pointed Lilka out to her companion. A bright smile flooded her face, washing away the worried look, "Link, over here!"

"Hello, Helen." Lilka greeted her friend with a warm hug, "How are you today?"

"I'm just fine. Certainly looking forward to our little expedition." Helen's warm brown eyes twinkled with anticipation.

"Hey no greeting for me? I expected more from my favourite hero at heart." The tall boy pouted his lip in a ridiculous expression of mock depression.

"Hello to you as well Pete." Lilka turned to him and embraced him as well.

Pete chuckled and grinned. "Hey Link, and how are you faring on this fine morn?"

Lilka's face fell for a moment, remembering her grandmother's prohibition.

"I'm ... aright, I suppose." She tried to keep her tone light but her eyes conveyed her disappointment.

"What's wrong Lilka?" Helen asked good naturedly "Is something wrong with Nana?"

Lilka's eyebrow began to twitch as sorrow turned to anger. "Oh something's wrong with Nana aright, she doesn't have her head screwed on right." her voice dripped with harsh, bitter frustration, "She doesn't know how to take care of anyone but herself and is taking it out on me."

"What did she do now?" Pete asked with a bored disinterested voice.

"She forbade me from taking lessons from the solders any more, can you believe that? My one escape and she takes it away." Lilka was raving now, her face turning red as it was want to do.

"Calm down Link, there's no reason to go on a rampage." Pete placed a calming hand on Lilka's shoulder.

"There is every reason to go on a rampage. She's taking my dream away from me." Lilka knocked the hand away with unnecessary ferocity. "You know what? Never mind, just forget I ever said anything about it, Let's just go fishing like we planed." The tall boy frowned and opened his mouth to speak only to be cut off.

"That sounds like a good idea." Helen interjected before Pete could say anything stupid that would make the blond girl any angrier.

With that the trio walked down stream towards the pond, completely unaware that they were being watched.

Prince Zeroun drummed his fingers against the smooth stone of the marble windowsill. As usual he was stuck watching a Hyrule council meeting in which he was not allowed to participate.

"I'm telling you we should wait until the drought ends before we do anything."

"No we should act now before any of our enemies notice our weakened condition."

It was never any use to listen to what was being said. Zeroun had long ago given up the idea of him being able to help with any of the country's problems. If he ever commented on one of the issues during the long drawn out debates he would be reprimanded and paid no heed, his ideas were demised as the flightless fancies of a young restless king-to-be. Of course it made no difference that he was the holder of the legendary triforce of wisdom as his great-grandmother, Zelda, had been before him.

Sullenly he turned his attention back to the birds building their nest in the tree amidst the fading sunlight outside the window. _The birds are lucky _he thought to himself _they have no need for laws or government, and when the young ones grow they are expected to fly not to sit quietly and obediently under the parent's condescending eye. _The prince let out an exasperated sigh, oh how he wished to fly, not literally, but rather to grow and prosper in his lot of life.

"Prince Zeroun," The hyrulian king called, "Since you obviously have plenty of time to watch birds go about their business perhaps that means you have already formulated a solution for ours." His tone was harsh as it always was, the tone of a father not pleased with his son.

"You were talking about the foreign threat to national security due to the drought, correct?"

"Yes that was the topic of discussion."

"Well, it appears that this particular drought is merely a summer drought, it shouldn't last too terribly long meaning that the water levels in the lakes and rivers should remain stable. What I suggest doing is increasing farming activity around Lake Hylia using the lake water for irrigation. This will increase the food production for the population. In the mean time we need to relocate troops from more centralized positions and place them at the boarders, if one of the boarders is breached or under attack they will be under strict orders to notify us immediately, this will give us time to regather the ..." Zeroun trailed off when he saw his father lift a hand to silence him. Once again his idea had been demised without second thought, a disheartening failure for the crown prince.

"Never mind Father, I suppose I don't truly know what I'm talking about. If you will excuse me, I am going to retire to my chambers." Zeroun stood and exited the chamber before anyone could impose upon him to stay.

Though he did not go to his chambers, instead he roamed the palace gardens searching for a place that would offer him solace from his caged life. He allowed his feet to follow along familiar paths taking him familiar places as his mind drifted through a sea of all to familiar thoughts. _What is wrong with the picture of my life? Bad question, what isn't wrong with it? I'm a prince of a great kingdom with everything I could want, yet my opinion is always ignored, despite the fact that I was charged with holing the triforce of wisdom._

It was always the same, ever since he had been born he was considered a disappointment. When the King and Queen had joyously announced that their first child had been chosen to be the holder of the Triforce of Wisdom everyone had thought he was going to be born a girl. Thus, when his parent's realized they had a son they were less than glad. After all it had always been the eldest daughter of the king who was the holder of the triforce of wisdom, that was tradition, and the king was a stickler for tradition. But there was no hope for a daughter, the Queen was now barren, she would produce no other heir.

Zeroun sat in one of the older gardens, racking his brain in hopes of finding a solution to the expectations of failure that hovered around him. Time passed as the young man sat silently amongst the greenery; the sun fell below the horizon, allowing darkness to gather in the sky above. A light gust of wind whispered through the leaves, calming Zeroun enough for an idea to slowly creep into his head. What he needed was a chance to prove himself. It wouldn't even need to be something big, just enough to show that he could be a capable ruler and protector of the people. He smiled a bit to himself, mayhap there was hope for him after all. With his resolve steeled he stood glancing once more around his grandmother Zelda's garden. _Thank you grandmother for renewing my strength. _ He would ask his father for a commission in the morning, when he was the most obliging.

The cool night air ruffled his golden brown hair as he mounted the steps to the castle entrance. Zeroun turned his face to welcome the gentle breeze, blissfully unaware of what lurked in the shadows beyond.

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Just a note to anyone who is going to review, if you saw any spelling/grammar errors please tell me so I can fix them. :D


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